Saab speeds towards abyss

The future of Sweden's Saab Automobile looked more uncertain than ever after it was abandoned by US carmaker General Motors and the Swedish government refused to come to its rescue, despite impending bankruptcy.

"Prospects are really bad for them," said Mikael Wickelgren, a car industry expert and a professor at the University of Skoevde in southern Sweden.

Sweden's centre-right government reiterated on Wednesday that it had no intention of taking over the beleaguered Saab automaker despite a warning from owner GM that the unit could file for bankruptcy protection "as early as this month" unless it received Swedish help.

"The Swedish state is not prepared to own car factories," Enterprise and Energy Minister Maud Olofsson told reporters in Stockholm. Saab employs about 4,100 people in Sweden, 3,700 of whom work at its hub in the southwestern town of Trollhaettan.

Saab's brand, once renowned for its cutting-edge technology and futuristic designs, has in recent years suffered from an aging product line and plunging sales. In the fourth quarter last year, the company's sales nosedived 38 per cent to just 17,900 cars.

For all of 2008, the Swedish automaker sold only 93,300 vehicles down from 120,000 just three years earlier.